It’s a still painful scar. Author of an exceptional 2012-2013 season, marked by a historic treble with Bayern Munich (Champions League, Bundesliga and German Cup), Franck Ribéry would undoubtedly have deserved to receive the 2013 Ballon d’Or.
Yes but now, against all expectations, it was ultimately Cristiano Ronaldo who received the supreme reward. The Portuguese finished ahead of his lifelong rival, Lionel Messi, and Franck Ribéry, only third. An episode that the Frenchman still has in his throat.
“Is this Ballon d’Or missing? Not anymore. But when you win everything and you have a season like that, when you win the trophy for best player in Europe… I was also the best player in the championship (Bundesliga). And then, these two years with France were also incredible…”Ribéry first recalled during an interview organized during the Festival dello Sport in Trento, Italy.
Franck Ribéry: “It hurts”
And to continue: “When it happened, it was obviously a big disappointment. It hurts. But it’s football, it’s difficult to accept this situation but we have to keep moving forward. We must always continue to move forward. »
As a reminder, the deadline for sending votes (by coaches, national team captains and journalists) was changed at the last moment by FIFA at the time led by Sepp Blatter. Initially set for November 15, 2013, the deadline was extended to November 29.
This extension took place right at the time of the return play-offs for the 2014 World Cup during which Cristiano Ronaldo shone. The former Madrilenian produced a masterful performance by scoring a resounding hat-trick with Portugal against Sweden (3-2), qualifying his country alone. This timing caused an immense wave of enthusiasm in favor of CR7, pushing many voters to reconsider their position or to use this delay to vote massively for him.
